Employers know they can be sued if they are honest and tell the truth that with advancing age of an employee the risk of stroke or heart attack conditions can bite the employer's WorkCover costs. They therefore invent other reasons to give the job to younger workers.

If the government wished to give assistance in this area they would shift such problems to social welfare instead of the employers.

Another major problem this country has is the number of jobs we still have available that are exportable.

Some jobs, like moning, oil, or gas rigs, nursing, police force, teaching, train driving, are not exportable, but others, like McCains and other food producers and manufacturing companies, can be in a position for their jobs to be exported.

If their products can be made in other countries that do not pay four weeks annual leave plus loadings, 10 days annual leave, 9 per cent superannuation loading, plus a 10 per cent GST leading, then we can expect many more companies to move overseas and import back their products.

"Made in Australia" cuts no ice if the imported goods are less than half the price of trade in Australia.

This leads on to the next problem, when thousands of workers move from being taxpayers to becoming social welfare recipients of unemployment benefits, then our nurses, teachers and police find the government tax income is under stress, and paying these people what they are worth becomes difficult, as the tax bins are not bottomless.

They are expected to do more with less. That's stress creating.

This will make the next generation move back to reliving the 1940s, with small homes, one car per household, the vegetable garden out the back and really following a tight budget.

I can see that being over 80 years of age has some attraction.

DON WOODWARD

Ballarat